Is self studying for ap's impressive??

If I self study for AP’s that are not offered at my school but receive 4’s or 5’s would it look impressive to colleges?

I’m wondering the same thing…

No.

When I was going through the admissions process a couple of years ago, I went to an Exploring College Options event, which had reps from Harvard, Stanford, Penn, Duke, and Georgetown, among others. During the Q&A, someone asked, “What do you think of applicants who self-study for additional AP’s over and above the AP classes they take?” One rep responded, “Please don’t do that. We’re not impressed by that.” The other reps all nodded.

While there are benefits to self studying a couple of classes, including intellectual curiosity and potential college credit, strengthening your application is not one of them.

Nope. Not going to impress anyone. Truthfully, beyond a certain threshold (7 or 8), they become meaningless for admissions.

If, however, you can test out of a class by virtue of your getting 4 or a 5 on an AP exam, go for it. Otherwise, find a better use of your time.

Nope. Anyone can self-study. Not going to impress anyone.

But doesn’t taking lots of AP classes show intellectual curiously and whatnot? Also don’t colleges judge an applicant by the rigor of their coursework? It seems like if someone studied for a lot of AP tests they would be interested in learning.

i think it’s good to show that you are interested in learning but LoveTheBard has a point that after a certain point the numbers of APs you take becomes meaningless

They really just want to know if you are capable of doing the work in college – GPA, fairly high course rigor, and test scores tell them that. After that they want to know what else you’ve got. Treading the same ground others have by studying and passing APs is just more of the same and doesn’t set you apart. Use your time in some more interesting way than that.

No, unless your high school only offers 2 or 3 - colleges want you in class, learning and participating. Your time is better spent developing ECs.

As the others have noted, the college admissions teams have made it clear that they do no want students engaging in an AP arms race. This also applies to academic summer programs. Very specifically, I have heard admission deans from the tippy tops say ‘don’t do that sort of stuff to impress us’.

If you actually are interested in learning, then learn more about stuff you are really interested in.

It is also true that having APs can be useful in exempting you from intro level classes and at many universities can count towards GenEd or credits needed for graduation, but most colleges have restrictions and limits (you can only have so many credits / certain courses are not eligible for exemption / courses in your major can’t be exempted / only scores of X count / etc., so don’t pile on APs randomly for that purpose.

Self studying isn’t a replacement for actually taking a class, being in discussions, doing assignments, labs, etc, and too many kids do it just for the score. That’s pretty transparent. In itself, a score doesn’t show intellectual curiosity. Thinking a rack of self studied classes gives you a tip isn’t solid thinking.

The exception is homeschooling. The best of those have already mastered self learning. Or if you have a drive not covered by your school curriculum and can’t take the class DE, so pursue a course on your own. But that’s not about a bagful.

That was not the OP’s question. Taking the class is valued by colleges. Self studying without benefit of the class is not.